Indonesia spots plane debris in Papua

Indonesian search teams say they've spotted debris in Papua province, believed to be from an airplane that crashed, carrying 54 people on board. Yiming Woo reports.

▲ Hide Transcript

▶ View Transcript

Rescuers arrive in the remote province of Papua to search for wreckage of a Trigana Air Service plane. They're heading to a mountainous area where the aircraft's believed to have crashed on Sunday. Military officials say burnt debris has been spotted there. (SOUNDBITE) (Bahasa Indonesia) COMMANDER MILITARY OF WAMENA DISTRICT, MOHAMAD AIDI SAYING: "We cannot confirm its condition because we are seeing it from the air, we can only confirm after we go down." The plane crashed halfway through its flight from Jayapura to Oksibil airport in Papua, where some family members of those on board are waiting for news. All of the passengers are Indonesians. Trigana Air Service had 14 serious incidents since it began operations in 1991, and is on the European Union's list of banned carriers.

Reuters, the news and media division of Thomson Reuters, is the world’s largest international multimedia news provider reaching more than one billion people every day. Reuters provides trusted business, financial, national, and international news to professionals via Thomson Reuters desktops, the world's media organizations, and directly to consumers at Reuters.com and via Reuters TV. Learn more about Thomson Reuters products: